“Jellyfish Truly Embody Being Stressful, Fun, Therapeutic, Work, & Rewarding All At The Same Time!”, An Interview With Cnidarian Aquarist & Water Quality Monitor Jeffrey Dotzler III
- ThePersaudCatalog
- Jul 6
- 6 min read
Recently, we were extraordinarily fortunate to interview Jeffrey Dotzler the III, a Cnidarian Aquarist & Water Quality curator, for a short interview about his work on Jellyfish!
Jeffrey Dotzler is a curator of Cnidarians & monitor of water quality at the Cabrillo High School Aquarium, located in Lompoc California. The Cabrillo High School Aquarium is an entirely unique facility, run out of Cabrillo High School, with a volunteer staff of 200 dedicated & passionate high schoolers.
In today’s interview, we sit down with Jeffrey to discuss his experience with Jellyfish, his advice for people looking to begin their journey in taking care of jellyfish, & his observations in taking care of them. Before delving into today’s interview, please note everything said has been edited for clarity, & that the opinions of our interviewee do not necessarily reflect the opinions & values of our organization. With that being said, let us delve into the contents of the interview!
The Contents Of The Interview
Questions About His Passion:
1. What sparked your passion for marine biology and aquariums, & is there any particular thing, such as a person, place, book, or franchise, that sparked your passion?
When I got to Cabrillo, I had always heard about the Aquarium program, as they do many tours for grade levels from TK up to 8th grade. When I was younger, I went on a tour of Cabrillo High School Aquarium, & did a lab activity, & it was amazing! It can be a very big moment in someone’s life to get to see these animals up close, & many people don’t have that opportunity to connect with the ocean in this way.
2. When did you begin your work at the aquarium?
So I began my work in my junior year, when I joined our Introduction to Aquarium Sciences class, as the majority of freshmen are not allowed to take the class. It’s a highly interesting job working as a student & running an aquarium, we do so many different things. We do everything from feeding the animals, prepping the food, monitoring the water quality, & maintaining the aquariums, which includes the tanks themselves, the substrate, & everything in between.
3. What is your favorite animal, & what is your favorite cnidarian?
My favourite animal overall is not an animal from the aquarium, it is based on an experience that I had when I was younger. I was taking a walk down Carpinteria beach when I was younger, which is a beautiful beach by the way. We were walking down & I was simply messing around, as children do, when I saw a plastic bag in a drainage ditch. I went over to pull it out of the water because you don’t want that in the ocean, & noticed something colourful inside. That colourful thing turned out to be a Spanish Shawl inside the bag, wrapped around a piece of rebar. We put the nudibranch inside a cup, & carried it over to a Tide Pool which was further out, & placed it there. Ever since then, they have been my favourite creature.
My favourite Cnidarian to work with so far has been the Moon Jelly, Aurelia aurita. For a while I would give tours of our Jellyfish tank, & learned a bit about them in the process, They are such fascinating creatures!
Questions Regarding Your Work:
4. How did you begin your work on cnidarians?
I did not begin my work on Cnidarians until my Junior Year when I began giving tours. The position of a Cnidarian Curator, or a curator of any kind, is earned through hard work in our aquarium. It is not only earned through the quality of your work & quantity of your hours, but it is also earned through an interview process with our staff advisors. When I applied for the position of Curator, the position of Cnidarian Curator had not been created yet. We had Jelly curators of course, however not anyone specializing in Cnidarians broadly.
I find the entire phylum of Cnidaria to be intensely fascinating, because you have your true jellyfish, your box jellyfish, your corals, & your anemones. We got our gorgeous tropical reef exhibit in my junior year, which has a very large coral reef. It is a beauty of a tank. It can be some more work, as it is warm water which is slightly different then water which we are used to, but with the work these students have been putting in, it is well worth it. Now we are installing our tropical fish gallery, we have many new tanks coming in courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It has been quite the journey.
Anyway, Cnidarians are highly interesting to me, which is why I pursued the title of Cnidarian Curator.
5. How many cnidarians do you have at the aquarium, & what are their habitats?
Our Cnidarians at the aquarium range from our corals to our anemones, to our jellyfish. We currently have 2 jellyfish display tanks on our main floor, containing our South American, Sea Nettle, & Pacific Sea Nettles. Our corals are located in our tropical reef exhibit, which is a large rectangular tank housing a variety of tropical species. Our anemones are housed in our touch tanks which are quite fun, & don’t require as extensive cleaning but that's another story. We also have them in our wave tank, which is a tank that mimics an intertidal zone by having a large wave come through on a timed setting. It showcases the push & pull that intertidal animals deal with.
Those are the main Cnidarians in our aquarium, sadly I don’t have an exact number of species or individuals.
We have also had a highly interesting project going on this last year, of strobilating jellyfish, headed by Gavin Rodriguez. We have been strobilating moon jellies for the last few months in-house, which recently moved into our tanks from our marine biology laboratory. It will be interesting to see the long-term results
The life cycle of jellyfish begins when two adult Medusae release their gametes, sperm & eggs, into the water around them. These gametes will then meet, & form a larva. This larva will implant itself into the sediment, & form a polyp. A polyp strobilates when it begins to segment, then pop off into several discs, known as ephyra, which will then grow into adult medusae.
6. Jellyfish are a fan-favorite at the aquarium, what is your caretaking experience with them, & what advice do you give those looking to learn more about jellyfish?
My personal experience with Jellyfish has been a bit of a journey because there was a learning curve due to their extremely delicate nature. With many other tanks you have animals which tend to stray away from you during cleanings, & caretaking of the tank, however, jellyfish behave differently. First of all, Jellyfish are floating around you, & will not move away from you, meaning that you have to be extremely attentive. You have to be careful not only with your tools, but with the formation of air bubbles, as air bubbles can cause severe damage to the jellies.
Even the slightest touch can form a tear in their outer membrane, so we have to take careful diligent care when working with them.
For anyone looking to learn more about them, I highly recommend visiting one at your local aquarium which may be difficult in some parts of the country. Go find these jellies, & learn a little bit about them from your local aquarists.
7. For those who don’t have much experience with Jellyfish, how would you describe them?
For those who don’t have much experience with jellies, I would describe them as very jelly-like. They are very beautiful, it just depends on how one is viewing them. I have had the amazing experience of seeing jellies out in the ocean, it’s a lot different to see them in the ocean than it is in an aquarium. They can be truly breathtaking. I also find their way of moving through the water to be rather captivating, it’s mesmerizing.
8. If you could summarize your experience with the caretaking of jellyfish in 5 words; what would those words be?
The first word that comes to mind is definitely stressful, they can be extremely stressful. However, they can also be quite fun, & therapeutic in a way. Work also comes to mind, they can be very rewarding.
Although all of these words might seem contradictory, they truly embody being stressful, fun, therapeutic, work, & rewarding all at the same time.
9. Do you have any final words regarding the aquarium, jellyfish, & your experience taking care of them?
I’m so thankful for the program, & for the opportunity to be a part of it. I’m very thankful that you (Our Head writer!) came out to be a part of the community, & to share this message with the world. It has been an honour.
Directories / Credits
Strategic Partnerships
Reel Guppy Outdoors
SharkedSkooler
Marine Enthusiasts Podcast
Cash Daniels
Tides of Tomorrow
Our Loyal Patrons
P. R. Ochoa
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